Tape advancing means



H. BARON Oct. 22, 1968 TAPE ADVANCING MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed sept. 2, 1966 RN m0 R MA VB WL E H C s Dn E H ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 22, 1968 H. BARON 3,406,962

TAPE ADVANC ING MEANS Filed Sept. 2, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /NVE/vmfz HERSCHEL BARON ATTORNEYS.

3,406,962 TAPE ADVANCING MEANS Herschel Baron, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Jacobs Machine Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Sept. 2, 1966, Ser. No. 576,939 9 Claims. (Cl. 271-33) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A tape advancing device comprising a tape supply reel and a driven tape take-up reel. The take-up reel is driven by a uni-directional, sequential drive means and gear means. The drive means is actuated by an air cylinder.

This application relates t0 tape advancing means and has as its objective the provision of a new and improved device of this general class.

Reference is hereby made to Jacobs United States Patent No. 3,223,059, entitled Automatic Feeding, Sewing, Cutting and Stacking Apparatus, issued on Dec. 14, 1965 as well as Jacobs et al. pending United States application Ser. No. 467,911, entitled Automatic Sewing Assembly, filed on June 29, 1965. In both the Jacobs patent and Jacobs et al. pending application there is disclosed a completely automatic sewing apparatus which includes a feeder station, a folding section, a sewing section, as well as a stacking section. The nature of the Jacobs and Jacobs et al. inventions is such that various additional stations may be added to or substituted for the aforesaid sequence of work stations.

In both the Jacobs and Jacobs et al. inventions, feeder foot means are utilized to pick up plies of cloth, one by one, and feed them downstream towards the sewing station. The feeder foot means utilizes a tacky adhesive tape to pick up a ply of goods on the downward stroke of the feeder foot means, then raises the same and feeds the goods in a kicking action into the nip of rollers that proceed to carry the plies, one by one, toward the sewing station. In the Jacobs et al. application, vacuum was utilized after the feeder foot means had begun to lift a ply of goods in order to provide a positive grip upon the individual ply. However, the adhesive tape means remains important even where the vacuum is present, since the initial lifting of a ply of goods is accomplished solely through the tacky adhesive means which usually will pick up but a single ply.

In view of the importance of having an elfective tacky adhesive surface, the Jacobs et al. application discloses a tape advancing means so that periodically a fresh adhesive surface is presented with the uppermost ply of goods. In the Jacobs patent, a chain drive, much like in a typewriter, was utilized to advance the adhesive tape with each stroke of the feeder foot means. In the Jacobs et al. application, the action of reseating of the feeder foot means created a camming effect exerted by a stationary pin upon rocker arm carried by the moving feeder foot means. Whenever the feeder foot means were reseated, the rocker arm ywould be kicked. This would have the effect of urging a pawl against a ratchet reel that was drivingly attached to the adhesive tape take-up means. Furthermore, in the Jacobs et al. application, there is also a disclosure of relying upon air cylinder means to actuate the tape advancing means. The present invention constitutes the utilization of the aforesaid air cylinder means which is in effect the application of positive, controllable drive means in conjunction with the tape advancing means.

Thus a prime object of the present invention is to pro- States Patent O 3,406,962 Patented Oct. 22, 1968 ICC vide tape advancing means which are relatively simple in operation, relatively maintenance free and generally of low cost.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide tape advancing means which are extremely reliable in operation.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide tape means which can be periodically actuated or sequentially actuated in order to brin-g about a rapid or an extremely slow advancement of the adhesive tape as may be required, -depending upon whether the material being handled rapidly neutralizes the tacky adhesive surface or has relatively little effect thereon.

The present invention has solved the foregoing problems by providing tape advancing means which essentially include air cylinder means which on signal rock a ratchet through uni-directional drive means. This has the effect of uni-directionally advancing a train of gears, the last of which drives a shaft upon which the adhesive tape takeup reel is mounted. The air cylinder is readily controllable to actuate the tape advancing means in accordance with the demands of a particular situation.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a side elevational view of a complete sewing assembly which includes adjacent the lefthand side thereof the tape advancing means of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view taken along the lines 2 2 of FIG. 1, essentially showing a front elevational view of the tape advancing means of the present invention, with the housing installed in place;

FIG. 3, is a View taken along the lines 3 3 of FIG. 2 showing the tape advancing means including the essential actuating means of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken along the lines 4 4 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the lines 5 5 of FIG. 3, and showing in particular the details of the ratchet drive for the take-up reel as well as the details of attachment in connection with the supply reel;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view of two anti-reverse pawls Iwhich co-act with a large gear to achieve a uni-directional drive of the take-up reel; and

FIG. 7 is a View taken along the llines 7 7 of FIG. 2 showing the supply reel and take-up reel, wherein the tape is shown in full line as it is being wound upon an empty take-up reel, with a full take-up reel being shown in phantom as it is about to actuate the contact arm of a microswitch for control purposes.

Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawings weherin similar reference characters refer to similar parts, reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows a general lay-out of the automatic sewing apparatus that is disclosed and claimed in pending Jacobs et al. application Ser. No. 467,911. As shown in FIG. 1, the improved automatic sewing apparatus 10 basically comprises a feeder station 12 including an alignment bed, a folding section 13, sewing station 14, button sewing and button hole forming stations 15, cutting station 16 and sewing station 18 as well as a stacking section.

The present invention has particular reference to the tape advancing means 20 of FIG. 3 which works in combination with feeder foot means 22, as generally indicated in FIG. 7. Although the cyclical action of the feeder foot means 22 forms no part of the present invention, and is instead disclosed and claimed in Jacobs Patent No. 3,223,059 and Jacobs et al. pending application Ser. No. 467,911, the action of said feeder foot means will be briefly described. Basically said feeder foot means will first move downwardly to contact the upper surface of a topmost ply of goods. The tacky adhesive surface 24 which is exposed at the bottom opening of the feeder foot means 22 will thereby be brought in contact with the workpiece 26. The feeder foot means 22 will then move upwardly carrying one ply of goods therewith, finally to kick forwardly.

In this way the goods are picked up and given a forward momentum so that they can be fed into the nip of a pair of rollers to be carried forwardly through an alignment bed, then to a folder and finally onward through and beyond the sewing station of the apparatus. In application Ser. No. 467,911, vacuum means are turned on after the feeder foot means 22 have been to lift.

The movement of the feeder foot means 22 and the mechanism accomplishing such movement is discussed in detail in Jacobs et al. pending application Ser. No. 467,911. For purposes of the present application reference is simply made to support roller 26 and pivotal roller 28. Both rollers 26 and 28 can pivot or rock, but it is only the support roller 26 which is the more forward of the two rollers, which will also undergo a lifting and lowering movement as the feeder foot means 22 moves through its cycle.

After the feeder foot means 22 has kicked forwardly to deliver a workpiece to the nip of a pair of rollers, and before the feeder foot means 22 has descended upon the next ply of goods, it is usually important that the tacky adhesive surface be in whole or in part renewed. Where material being handled has a considerable arnout of lint or `for some other reason quickly neutralizes the tacky surface of the adhesive tape 20, it will be necessary to advance the adhesive tape 30 a sutiicient amount so that a completely fresh tacky surface will be presented to the next piece of goods. Where, however, the goods being delivered do not quickly neutralize the tacky adhesive surface, the advancement of the adhesive tape can be accomplished at a much slower rate. As shown in FIG. 7, a supply reel 32 of adhesive tape is provided such that the adhesive tape will be drawn from the supply reel 32 downwardly about rollers 34 and 36 to bottom idler rollers 38 and then upwardly `in return movement about rollers 40 and 42 to be wound into the take-up reel 44. The present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 and certain of the other figures, has particular reference to the mechanism which drives the take-up reel 44.

Before discussing the details of the tape advancing means of the present invention, reference is made to FIG. 2 which shows housing 46 for the supply and take-up reels 32 and 34 as well as housing 48 for the tape advanc- -ing means of the present invention, As noted in FIG. 2, a central support plate is provided for the mounting on side 52 thereof of the reels 32 and 44 and for mounting on the other side 54 thereof of the tape advancing means. The plate 50 itself is secured (FIG. 2) to a block 56 through which support roller 26 passes, with a pin 58 securing the block 56 to the roller 26 for rotation and linear movement therewith.

Of further interest, as shown in Fig. 1, are plies of goods 60 which will be advanced onebyone through the action of the feeder foot means 22. In FIG. 7, there is shown contact arm 62 which cooperates with microswitch 64 to actuate a circuit when the take-up reel 44 has reached a predetermined size. This will either automatically shut off the tape advancing means or turn on or turn off an indicator light to tell the operator that the take-up reel is nearing the maximum diameter of buildup, thereby necessitating the removal of the spent adhesive tape and the insertion of a new ply reel of fresh adhesive tape.

The details of the tape advancing means of the present invention are discussed somewhat in pending Jacobs et al. application Ser. No. 467,911 and are shown in FIG. 3 of the present drawing.

The tape advancing means 20 are mounted upon surface 54 of the plate 50, and essentially comprise air cylinder means 66 which rock a ratchet 68 through unidirectional drive means which advances small gears 70 and 72 and the large gear 74. The shaft 76 is attached for rotation with large gear 74, and the shaft 76 extends through the plate 50 to side 52 thereof to provide a positive drive upon the take-up reel 44, since the reel 44 is also coupled to shaft 76. As shown in FIG. 7, the supply reel 32 is mounted upon the idler shaft 7 8 with housings 46 and 48 being held together and to plate 50 by pin 80.

The details of the air cylinder means 66 are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 wherein the air cylinder 66 is mounted upon a lip 82 exten-ding from surface 54 by means of a bolt with bolt head 84 extending through the lip 82 and having a nut with associated washer 86 to hold end 88 of air cylinder 66 between the washer 86 and an elongated sleeve 90. The air cylinder 66 itself is mounted via nuts 92 and has an air hose 94. The air cylinder 66 is preferably double acting, and for this reason only a single hose 94 is shown. The internal details of a double acting air cylinder are well known and serve to drive plunger 96 outwardly from the cylinder or in a direction upwardly and towards the right as shown in FIG. 3. When the air cylinder completes a stroke, the plunger 96 will return to its initial position under the action of a spring (not shown) which had been extended or worked against during the outgoing stroke of the plunger 96.

Therefore, the plunger 96 will reciprocate outwardly and then inwardly under the action of the air cylinder 66. As further shown in FIG. 3, one end of the ratchet 68 is pinned at 98 on the plunger 96. Thus as the plunger 96 reciprocates outwardly and inwardly, the ratchet 68 is caused to rock first in a clockwise sense and then in a counterclockwise sense back and forth for a relatively small angle as determined by the stroke of the plunger 96. The details of construction of the ratchet 68 are shown in FIG. 5 and will be discussed hereinafter. For present purposes, it will suffice to state that the ratchet 68 is uni-directional in drive, so that it will advance gear 70 only when the ratchet 68 rocks in a clockwise sense and not when it returns to the position of FIG. 3 in moving in a counterclockwise sense.

Thus, the small gear 70 will be driven only in a clockwise sense. Since the gear 70 meshes with slightly larger gear 72, the gear 72 will be driven only in a counterclockwise sense, with both gears 70 and 72 being driven for only small increments at a time. The counterclockwise advancement of gear 72 causes a very slow clockwise advancement of the large gear 74. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, two pawls 100 and 102 pinned at 104 to the surface 54 are utilized to prevent counterclockwise rotation of the large gear 74. The pawls 100 and 102 may be regarded as anti-reverse pawls. Two pawls are utilized and so positioned with respect to each other that one pawl will be alternately engaged between teeth 106 of large gear 74 while the other pawl rests upon a tooth 106. Both of the pawls 100 and 102 are spring biased into engagement with the large gear 74.

Thus, when the large gear 74 is advanced a small amount in a clockwise sense, the inclined surfaces of gear teeth 106 will allow the pawl 100 to ride up onto a tooth 106, while at the same time permitting the other pawl 102 to drop between a pair of adjacent teeth 106. This arrangement effectively doubles the number of gear teeth in the large :gear 74 since it permits the advancement of large gear 74 only one half tooth per stroke of the air cylinder. This eliminates the necessity to make the gear teeth 106 about one-half of their usable size, and thereby create a risk of making the gear teeth 106 too small which would bring to play problems of strength of the gear teeth.

The net result of all of the foregoing is that the large gear 74 will be driven in a clockwise sense in extremely small increments. Since both the large gear 74 and the take-up reel 44 are coupled to shaft 76 on opposite sides of plate 50, the net result is that the take-up reel 44 is driven in the identically small increments as the large gear 74. This has the effect of providing a positive pull or drive upon the adhesive tape 30.

Where it is desired to advance the take-up reel by greater increments, this can be simply done by providing a series of electrical impulses to the air cylinder 66 instead of a single impulse. This can be simply achieved through appropriate connection to the actuating means for the air cylinder 66 in a manner disclosed in pending Jacobs et al. application Ser. No. 467,911 or by control means well konwn in the art. This also, Iby appropriate connection, will limit the time of advancement of the adhesive tape means 30 to the period after the forward -kick of the feeder foot means 22 and before it has fully descended upon the topmost workpiece 60 as it is about to start its next cycle. In other wor-ds, the tape advance ment occurs vwhen the feeder foot means is not in contact -with a ply of goods.

The details of the uniadirectional drive connection between the ratchet 68 and the small gear 70 as well as the connection of both large gear 74 and take-up reel 44 to drive shaft 76 are illustrated in FIG. 5.

In particular, the ratchet 68 inclu-des a ratchet head 108 from which downwardly depends a |drive stub 110. In describing the elements of FIG. 5, the relative orien tation of the elements, such as downward or upward, is described as the elements are viewed in FIG. 5. In accordance with well-known construction, the ratchet 68 is so constructed that when it is rotated in a fiirst sense, the 'drive stub 110 will be carried along or driven by the ratchet 68. However, ywhen the ratchet 68 is driven in the opposite sense the stub 110 will slip with respect to the head 108, or in other words, the ratchet 68 will not be able to ldrive the stub .110 in the second sense. This also may be accomplished by a well-known pawl and ratchet arrangement whereby the ratchet teeth are so inclined that in the yfirst sense the pawl will be wedged against a ratchet tooth and thereby will drive the same, whereas in the second sense the pawl will be inclined with respect to the ratchet teeth and therefore the pawl 'will .be able to ride over the ratchet teeth.

The drive stub 110 has a general square cross-section, such that it slips into a square opening in a drive link 112 that is essentially comprised of an upper head 114 and a lower skirt 116, both of which have essentially cylindrical outer surfaces. Also, a base 118 is provided which is attached to plate 50 by means of bolts 120. The base 118 possess a relatively large cut away portion to receive a generally T-shaped support 122. The base 118 also possesses a somewhat smaller opening to receive the lower portion of the skirt 116.

The support 122 is essentially at, but it possesses a short skirt 124 and a somewhat larger nub 126 which projects -upwardly for a considerable distance within the opening in the skirt 116. As further shown in FIG. 5, a sleeve 128 is positioned about a portion of the skirt 116 such that the small gear 70 is retained by the sleeve 128 against the lower shoulder 115 of the Idrive link 112. A pin 130 passes through the nub 126.

It is thus seen that with the ratchet 68 moved in the direction which drives stub 110, the interaction of the square stub 110 and the square opening in the drive link 112 enables the stub 110 to drive the link 112. With rotation of drive link 112, the sleeve 128 as well as the entrapped small gear 70 are also carried along. Since the support 122 is also connected to pin 130, the support 122 is also driven along. The base 118 however is stationary as it lis secured to the plate 50 by means of the bolts 120. The aforesaid arrangement provides a reliable unidirectional coupling between the ratchet 68 and the gear 70. When the ratchet is driven in an opposite sense, the stub 110 will remain stationary, and therefore the small gear 70 will not be driven. This occurs on the return stroke of plunger 96, and thus the gear 70 is advanced only on the forward stroke of the plunger 96.

As further shown in FIG. 5, the intermediate gear 72 is pivotally secured to the plate 50 by means of pin 132 that passes through spacer sleeve 133. The pivotal attachment of large gear 74 is also shown in FIG. 5 as relying upon a link 134 to which the gear 74 is secured by means of bolts 136. A collar 138 is provided having an upper skirt 140 through which a pin 142 passes in order to secure the collar 138 within a complementary opening in the link 134. As further shown in FIG. 5, the pin 142 als-o passes through the shaft 76. It is thus seen that when the large gear 74 is driven that its energy of rotation is directly conveyed to the shaft 76 through link 134 and collar 138.

As further shown in FIG. 5, the take-up reel 44 includes a core 144 which extends essentially between sides 146 and 148 of the take-up reel. The ends of the core 144 extend respectively through the sides 146 and 148, with one core end abutting against collar 138. The core 144 includes a complementary opening to permit the passage of the shaft 76.

It is thus seen that the present invention provides a reliable tape advancing means.

The tape advancing means 20 of the present invention utilizes air cylinder means 66 to rock ratchet 68 which possess uni-directional drive means. In this way, large gear 74 is advanced uni-directionally through the action of intermediate gears 70 and 72 with the shaft 76 being driven along with gear 74, thereby to advance take-up reel 44 in predetermined increments. The air cylinder 66 is actuated by control means which may send an activating signal to the air cylinder at a -desired point in the feeder foot cycle. Also, the control means can be motivated to provide two or more consecutive cyclings of the air cylinder or to prevent the air cylinder from operating for a predetermined number of feeder foot cycles, depending upon how quickly the cloth being picked up neutralizes the tacky adhesive surface of adhesive tape 30.

The present invention provides a reliable, controllable advancement of the adhesive table means 30 and is of relatively low cost and essentially maintenance free.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate my invention, that others may, by applying current or future knowlege readily adopt the same for use under various conditions of service.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In a` system including a tape supply reel and a tape take-up reel mounted on a driven shaft, with tacky adhesive tape being drawn from said supply reel and then through and beyond reciprocable feeder foot means, finally to be wound on said take-up reel through the action of said driven shaft, the improvement comprising providing tape advancing means Iincluding air cylinder means operable on signal by control means, uni-directional, sequential drive means and gear means, said unidirectional drive means being actuated by said air cylinder means to drive said gear means, means supporting said gear means, said driven shaft being connected to said gear means for sequential rotation therewith, with the actuation of said air cylinder means on signal thereby serving to drive said tape between said reels at predetermined intervals, whereby an effective tacky adhesive surface will always be present at said feeder foot means.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein said gear means -includes at least one gear having gear teeth separated by a space between each pair of gear teeth, and two pawls, one of which extends into said space while the other pawl is positioned upon a gear, with the pawls alternating their respective positions as said gear is rotated.

3. The invention of claim 1 where said air cylinder means is actuated a plurality of times before said feeder foot means advances upon a ply of goods.

4. The invention of claim 1 including a central support 7 plate having first and second faces, said reels being mounted for rotation on said first face, said driven shaft extending through said plate and said gear means being mounted for rotation on said second face.

5. In a system including a tape supply reel and a tape take-up reel mounted on a driven shaft, with tacky adhesive tape being drawn from said supply reel and then through and beyond reciprocable feeder foot means, finally to be wound on said take-up reel through the action of said driven shaft, the improvement comprising providing tape advancing means including air cylinder means operable on signal by control means, uni-directional, sequential drive means and gear means, said unidirectional drive means being actuated by said air cylinder means to drive said gear means, said uni-directional drive means including ratchet means which will drive only in a single direction, a central support plate having first and second faces, said reels being mounted for rotation on said first face, said driven shaft extending through said plate, said :gear means being mounted for rotation on said second face, said driven shaft being connected to said gear means for sequential rotation therewith, with the actuation of said air cylinder means on signal thereby serving to drive said tape between said reels at predetermined intervals, whereby an effective tacky adhesive surface will always be present at said feeder foot means.

6. The invention of claim wherein said ratchet means includes a uni-directional drive stub extending into a drive link, a base secured to said plate receiving a rotatable support extending within said drive link, a gear positioned against said drive link and held in place by a sleeve with a pin securing said sleeve, drive link and support for rotation with said gear.

7. In a system including a tape supply reel and a tape take-up reel mounted on a driven shaft, with tacky adhesive tape being drawn from said supply reel and then through and beyond reciprocable feeder foot means, finally to be wound on said take-up reel through the action of said driven shaft, the improvement comprising providing tape advancing means including air cylinder means operable on signal by control means, uni-directional, sequential drive means a nd gear means, said uni-directional drive means being actuated by said air cylinder means to drive said gear means, a central support plate having first and second faces, said reels being mounted for rotation on said first face, said driven shaft extending through said plate, said gear means being mounted for rotation on said second face, said shaft being connected to said gear means in sequential rotation therewith, said gear means including three gears with said driven shaft being attached to one of said gears for rotation therewith, with the actuation of said air cylinder means on signal thereby serving to drive said tape between said reels at predetermined intervals, whereby an effective tacky adhesive surface will always be present at said feeder foot means.

8. The invention of claim 7 wherein said one gear is pivotally attached to said plate by means of a link through which said driven shaft passes and a collar holding said driven shaft, said collar also being attached to said link.

9. In a system including a tape supply reel and a tape take-up reel mounted on a driven shaft, with tacky adhesive tape being drawn from said supply reel and then through and beyond reciprocable feeder foot means, finally to be wound on said take-up reel through the action of said driven shaft, the improvement comprising providing tape advancing means including air cylinder means operable on signal by control means, uni-directional, sequential drive means and gear means, said uni-directional drive means being actuated by said air cylinder means to drive said gear means, said uni-directional drive means including ratchet means which will drive only in a single direction, means supporting said gear means, said driven shaft being connected to said gear means for sequential rotation therewith, with the actuation of said air cylinder means on signal thereby serving to drive said tape between said reels at predetermined intervals, whereby an effective tacky adhesive surface will always be present at said feeder foot means.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,183,533 5/1965 Kull -..198-135 3,223,059 12/1965 Jacobs 112-2 RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner. 

